12/16/2008

The recession - A chance for bad bosses to take advantage

One thing the recession has seen us return to is workers being scared to ask for what they have earned because they fear the sack. A good example today is something I heard from a colleague who has a member of her family who works for Debenhams.

Apparently Debenhams are "encouraging" staff to work anything up to 12 hours a day repricing items for the sale, but without overtime pay, and with the implicit threat that has been made that "there may be redundancies in the new year".

How daft a worker would they be to insist on overtime pay or refusing to do the extra hours knowing that bosses have already mentioned imminent redundancies.

Yes, indeed, some companies really are taking advantage of their workers.